Groton is looking to take the next step.
The Zebras are coming off a second straight season of 17 wins and a repeat Small School championship appearance.
They're also coming off a repeat loss to New Hampton in the final game of the season.
"[New Hampton coach] Greg Churchill's kind of got us two years in a row with that group," Groton coach Tim LeRoy said. "We've learned a lot."
But momentum is on the program's side as it enters its fifth year with LeRoy at the helm. Without a 2021 season due to COVID, the Zebras went 8-5-5 in LeRoy's first campaign in 2022, following a 4-17-0 record in 2020. Since that first season, Groton has become a rising NEPSAC force.
There have been runs at the Small School tournament crown, and they pushed for an Elite 8 spot last season.
"We started four or five years ago kind of at the bottom, and we had to work our way up," LeRoy said. "That first run where we had a good season, we knew we had the kids in place to get us pretty far, but we didn't know how far we'd go. Last year, we had similar expectations but even higher goals. That disappointment hit harder last year, losing that game, but the realization was also like, 'We can do this. We can compete with the best and be in this situation every year.'"
Those losses are serving as learning experiences for the Zebras entering this season.